Tata Nano Diesel in Last Stages of Testing; Coming in 2013

When Tata brought out the Tata Nano some years back, it was perceived to become a car that could challenge India’s already withering infrastructure.

But then this engineering wonder bombed (literally), and the hype around the product at the time of the launch soon died down. Tata Motors has been busy trying various stints with Nano and is hoping to resurrect its image to make it sell  in the numbers which were initially expected.

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Tata Nano Diesel spyshot. Click image to see 9 clear spyshots

Along with other variants, Tata has been extensively testing the Tata Nano with a diesel engine over the past couple of years at least. MotorBash was among one of the first publications to bring spyshots of Tata Nano Diesel back in May last year. We have been keeping a close vigil on all the developments about the Nano. We, yet again, brought to you exclusive spyshots of the upcoming car including its interiors very recently (Check Pics).

Tata Motors has been loosing out constantly to the competition but the Tata Nano Diesel might just be the car that the company could look to turn its fortunes on its head. Currently the Sanand plant which manufactures the Nano is operating on roughly 25-30 percent capacity when the plant needs to operate atleast at 60 percent capacity to break even.

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Tata Motors is working on a 800cc two cylinder diesel motor that shall power the Nano and will sport the world’s smallest turbocharger sourced from Honeywell. Sources working on the Tata Nano Diesel have stated that the car is in its final phase of trial and the company does not want to launch the car in a hurry and instead is making sure that all the technical aspects are taken care off to prevent problems later on.

Tata Motors intends on pricing it competitively but the partial de-regularisation of diesel prices might just be the speed breaker that Tata Motors would not really like to ride over. Nevertheless, the launch is nearing and the test mules are hitting the roads more often than earlier. Expect an official announcement soon as the company’s fortunes somehow rest on the success of this car.

Also Read: Nano CNG Caught Testing in Pune; Coming Soon

 

Source: Livemint

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